Mid-Pacific Institute

• Name — Mid-Pacific Institute • Established — 1908 • Type — Private, Day, College-prep • Religious Affiliation — Christian • Grades — Pre-K–12 • Head — Paul Turnbull • Head Label — President • Enrollment — 1,400 • Campus Type — Urban • Campus Size — 43 acre • Mascot — Pueo (Hawaiian short-eared owl) • Newspaper — Na Pueo • Colors — greenwhite Green and white • Location — 2445 Kaala Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 • Country — USA • Athletics — Mid-Pacific Owls • Athletic Conference — Interscholastic League of Honolulu • Website — www.midpac.edu

The high school was established through the 1908 merger of Kawaiahao Seminary for Girls, founded in 1864, Mills Institute for Boys, founded in 1892, the Okumura Japanese Boarding School, and the Korean Methodist School for Boys and Girls. All four schools were founded by missionaries, with the goal of teaching English to native Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, and other nationalities. It was established that the school must remain Christian so long as the original land was in use. However, students are allowed to practice any religion of their choice. From its inception, Mid-Pacific was founded on the ideals of a global worldview, and the belief that people of diverse backgrounds and cultures should come together to be a powerful voice for understanding. A birthplace for inspiring ideas that impact local and international communities. Even members of the Hawaiian royal family attended the schools. By opening its doors to students with no prejudice over race and class status, Mid-Pacific was a part of a growing movement toward greater social acceptance that was rarely seen in the repressive oligarchical control within the Territory of Hawaii. • Illustration — Tech Center and Kawaiahao Hall on the Campus of Mid-Pacific Institute A merger of the schools was suggested in 1905 and the Hawaiian Board of Foreign Missions purchased acre of land in Manoa valley. A ceremony was held on May 31, 1906, for the new school campus, which officially opened in 1908. The schools continued to operate independently while co-existing in the new campus until the coeducation plan went into effect in the fall of 1922 and by June 1923 Mid-Pacific Institute became the common shared name. The school added an elementary school when it merged with Epiphany School (which had been established as an elementary mission school by the Episcopal Church in 1937) in 2004. The school had an on-campus dormitory from 1908 until it was closed in November 2003 and replaced by the new elementary school. On February 23, 2012, Mid-Pacific announced it had ordered 1,500 iPads for all students and faculty, making it one of the first schools in the nation to equip every student K-12 with an iPad. In 2024, Mid-Pacific became one of the first schools in the state to fully embrace and integrate artificial intelligence into the academic curriculum and established the Mid-Pacific AI Advisory Council.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a widely recognized and highly regarded two-year pre-university educational program that emphasizes rigorous, internationally based curriculum standards and promotes awareness and appreciation of global issues and perspectives. Students must take six subjects, and must also pass 3 extra requirements, for example, Theory of Knowledge (ToK), a 4000-word Extended Essay (EE), and a requirement of at least a total of 150 hours in CAS (Creativity, Action, Service). Mid-Pacific Institute was the first secondary school in the state of Hawaii to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The IB is administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization, which was founded in the 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The school's athletic affiliation is with the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. Mid-Pacific participates in intermediate, junior varsity and varsity level soccer, water polo, cross country, track & field, golf, softball, baseball, basketball, canoe paddling, tennis, bowling, volleyball, canoe paddling, football, flag football, swimming, wrestling, sailing, judo, and kayaking. Mid-Pacific was one of nineteen smaller private schools that made up a larger unified team called Pac-5 Wolfpack, which allows the students to participate in certain high school athletic competition. Pac-Five began in 1973 to allow smaller institutions (of 1000 or fewer students per school) to form a football team and compete at a varsity level with bigger schools. Since 2023, Mid-Pacific fields all of its own teams and only participates in Pac-5 for football and competitive cheerleading. Mid-Pacific has won state championships in baseball (1990-1992, 2002, 2013), Girls' Basketball (2017), Girls' Soccer (2011–2013), Boys' Soccer (2008, 2010, 2014, 2015), Boys' Sporter Air Riflery (2013, 2015, 2018, 2021), Girls' Sporter Air Riflery (2014, 2018), Girls' Swimming & Diving (2013, 2015), Boys' Canoe Paddling (2007), Boys' Golf (1985) and Softball (2011-2012). Through their affiliation with Pac-Five, they have also been part of state Football championships in 1982 and 1985.

Mid-Pacific's Alma mater was written by John L. Hopwood